Global: CmiA aims to give African cotton the recognition it deserves in international trade and to lend a positive, recognizable

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Global: CmiA aims to give African cotton the recognition it deserves in international trade and to lend a positive, recognizable

Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) is gaining global attention as it works towards sustainable farming practices, empowering small-holder and women farmers. In an exclusive interview with Anurima Das, Tina Stridde, speaker of the Aid by Trade Foundation, elaborates on the CmiA concept and work, and the impact the current global cotton situation can have on the initiative and the farmers.

Can you elaborate on the CmiA model for cotton workers in Africa?

Hamburg entrepreneur Dr. Michael Otto, in 2005, launched the Cotton made in Africa initiative, under the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF), following failed WTO negotiations in 2003 on the reduction of agricultural subsides, and the injustice that was causing to African countries' cotton trade.Instead of charity, the initiative follows an entrepreneurial approach by providing sustainable long-term support. Qualification programs teach small-holder farmers about efficient and environmentally friendly cultivation methods according to the sustainability criteria of the CmiA standard that help them improve the quality of their cotton, yield higher crops, and thus earn a better income. Simultanously, CmiA builds an alliance of international textile companies that buy the CmiA-cotton and pay a licence fee for it. The license fees for CmiA certified cotton are reinvested in the growing regions to train the small-holder farmers. Together with corporate partners, cotton companies, and the public sector, the Aid by Trade Foundation invests in community projects that focus on promoting the expansion of school infrastructures in rural cotton growing areas or in supporting women farmers and women's clubs.

What is the strategy to ensure right price for this cotton?

CmiA takes a business driven approach to support currently 435,000 small-holder cotton farmers and including their family members more than 3.2 million people. The initiative aims to achieve its goals by activating market forces and by building up an alliance of international textile companies that buy the CmiA-cotton, process it further and finally market it to their customers. The CmiA international retail partners buy the sustainably grown cotton at world market prices and pay a license fee to the foundation that is charged at the end of the textile value chain. Currently more than 20 firms are part of the demand alliance, including Puma, C&A, Tom Tailor, s.Oliver, the Rewe Group, Tchibo, Engelbert Strauss and the Otto Group. Thanks to the growing demand alliance, sales of CmiA have risen continuously over the past few years. In 2007, CmiA was introduced in the German market with 400,000 units, which grew to around 35 million textiles by 2013. In 2014, the initiative projects sales of around 45 million units.

Global cotton prices are expected to be subdued, with China stopping its stockpiling policy. How will that impact cotton and cotton workers in Africa?

The AbTF and its CmiA initiative are concerned as highly volatile prices have a direct impact, especially on marginalized small-holder cotton farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Activities initiated by CmiA, such as training in modern, sustainable and efficient cultivation methods are key elements aimed at increasing the yields and incomes of small-holders and thus their resilience towards the ramifications of such volatile cotton prices. In addition, farmer business schools teach small-holder farmers basic business skills for their entire cropping system, including cotton. All support measures are increasingly financed through a volume-based fee at the partner brand and retailer level. These fees are not linked to world cotton prices and have the potential to both improve small-holder livelihoods and secure quality sustainable cotton in future.

How do you ensure that farmers' rights are protected, there is no child labor, and ensure quality standards?

This is in the background of international buyers becoming very stringent with social and environmental aspects today. In 2012, almost 10% of the world's cotton production was grown in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the world's fifth largest cotton exporter following the USA, India, Australia and Brazil. In West and South-East Africa, cotton is cultivated by around 2.2 million small-holder farmers. All in all, up to 15.4 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa directly depend on cotton farming for their livelihood. Nevertheless, 80% of the African cotton farmers have an income per day of less than US$ 1.5. A study carried out in six countries of SSA showed that the sale of cotton accounts for 50% of the small-holders' cash income. Thus cotton plays a key role in fighting poverty in SSA. CmiA proposes to give African cotton the recognition it deserves in international trade and to lend a positive, recognisable "face" to a hitherto anonymous mass product. CmiA cotton stands for sustainable, eco-friendly cotton production. The key difference when compared to other countries where cotton is grown in monocultures on large plantations that are often irrigated and where cotton is mainly harvested with machines, CmiA cotton is grown exclusively under rain fed conditions.

Translated to the amount of cotton required to make a t-shirt, CmiA thereby saves around 1,500 litres of water through the sustainable cultivation of the raw material alone. Additionally, CmiA cotton is grown and harvested by hand by small-holder farmers who grow their crops on small lots and in rotation with staple foods, such as grain, corn and peanuts. This production method supports soil fertility and helps maintain the habitat of beneficial insects. At the heart of the CmiA label are its sustainable standard criteria. Compliance with these guidelines is regularly checked by means of verification by independent 3rd party organizations. The criteria catalogue is structured on two levels: Firstly, it sets out exclusion criteria to decide whether small-holder farmers and cotton companies can participate in the CmiA initiative at all. These minimum requirements include eg. ban on slavery, human trafficking, exploitative forms of child labor according to ILO conventions and deforestation of primary forests. There is also a ban on the use of hazardous pesticides and of genetically modified seeds. Secondly, small-holder farmers and cotton companies producing cotton according to CmiA-criteria, have to observe a series of sustainability indicators.

CmiA has a special focus on women farm workers. How has work here progressed?

Strong women are an essential key to sustainable development. The Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) Initiative is particularly committed to helping female cotton farmers in the producing regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Various training and empowerment activities are taken up, e.g., to adapt training in sustainable cotton production to the needs of female participants, training them to become lead farmers .Easier access to loans is ensured. As many as 85,000 female farmers have so far been trained in sustainable cotton production, of which, approximately 32,300 are now organized in groups, and nearly 3,900 women attend business training. In Côte d'Ivoire 12 women's cooperatives with at least 50 members each benefit from a financial start-up as part of a community project. Overall, this project will support 25 cooperatives; reaching up to 5,600 people including their family members. In Zambia, more than 500 women's clubs, each with 25-50 members have been established. They have an elected governing body and plant cotton as well as other crops together. The women reinvest the income they generate as a group, e.g. in the construction of a warehouse, in setting up a chicken farm, or in education for their children.

Why did you feel the need to help women farmers?

Objectives and activities with regard to gender within the CmiA programme are based on the results of an intensive gender analysis conducted in the different project regions. The approach takes into consideration local realities in each country. A general conclusion at the beginning was that women have critical roles in cotton production but are underrepresented as members of producer organisations. They have fewer contracts, less access to inputs, lower attendance at trainings and less access to returns from cotton production than men. Cotton payments are either made to the person holding the contract - which is usually the husband - or to a producer group - which consists mostly of men. So women might not be fairly compensated for their work if their husbands do not share returns. Right from the beginning, it was very much important to include the local communities and cotton companies into the process and inform not only women but also men about the approach - in order to take the cultural context into consideration. Nevertheless there are still challenges to face: Despite creating a female club, women still need support from men in certain regards. To give one practical example: One of the challenges is the dependency on other (male) farmers when hiring animals to prepare their field. It is costly and mostly delayed because the owner understandably first works on his own field before being willing to prepare theirs.